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Raul Villamia's childhood in Cuba revolved around baseball and bloodshed. The violence that he witnessed led him to support Castro's revolution, and his brother Mario introduced him to Castro's 26th of July Movement (M267). Minor league baseball brought him to the United States, where he hoped to pursue a career in the majors, and left Villamia uniquely placed to aid Castro's revolution from abroad. From Tampa, New York City, Bridgeport, Union City, Miami, and Key West, the Villamias, Angel Perez-Vidal, Howard K. Davis and others supported Castro through fundraising, collecting supplies for the revolutionaries, propaganda campaigns, and arms smuggling. Raul rubbed elbows with Castro and his top men and with American gangsters who did business in Cuba. He was hounded by the FBI, and his brother Mario is mentioned in the Warren Commission Report. This memoir recalls Villamia's experience as an advocate for Castro in the United States and tells the story of those in America whose efforts helped to oust Batista.

La guerre d'indépendance de Cuba fut la plus longue et la plus meurtrière d'Amérique latine. Initiée en 1868 par Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, elle dura près de trente ans pour s'achever en 1898, après une lutte acharnée menée par les patriotes cubains sous l'égide de José Martí. L'intervention militaire des États-Unis, au moment même où les Cubains étaient sur le point de remporter la bataille finale contre l'Espagne, brisa le rêve d'émancipation de tout un peuple, lequel serait contraint de vivre dans une république néocoloniale durant près de six décennies, jusqu'au triomphe de la Révolution de Fidel Castro en 1959. Cet ouvrage permet de retracer l'histoire tumultueuse de Cuba, secouée par les soubresauts inhérents à tout processus émancipateur, dans sa conquête de l'indépendance. Par leur parcours personnel et politique, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes et José Martí incarnent, au-delà des générations, la longue quête du peuple cubain vers la liberté et son aspiration à jouir d'une existence républicaine où la souveraineté et la dignité humaine constitueraient le socle de la nation.

«No ha habido un libro como este antes y es improbable que vuelva a existir otro como él». GRAHAM GREENE Esteban Montejo, un viejo revolucionario mambí, afrocubano y nacido esclavo, cuenta su vida a un joven autor de veintitrés años, Miguel Barnet. Lo hace en 1963, en un país en el que una revolución triunfante apuesta por recuperar «la historia de la gente sin historia», por desenterrar la memoria silenciada de las rebeliones populares. Los recuerdos de la vida cotidiana del anciano se imbrican con algunos hechos históricos trascendentales para la historia de Cuba: el régimen de terror en los ingenios azucareros, los cimarrones huidos al monte, la abolición de la esclavitud, la guerra de Independencia... Y así, con paso discreto y dejando a su memoria discurrir libremente, Montejo incorpora a la suya muchas otras voces, las de tantos hombres y mujeres anónimos que han conformado el sustrato identitario de la isla caribeña. Miguel Barnet encontró en la palabra dicha el engranaje perfecto entre la ficción y la realidad en la que se funden lo personal con lo colectivo, convirtiendo este texto —que se ofrece aquí en su versión definitiva—, como bien apuntó Alejo Carpentier, «en un caso único en nuestra literatura: el de un monólogo que escapa a todo mecanismo de creación literaria y, sin embargo, se inscribe en la literatura en virtud de sus proyecciones poéticas».

Celia Sanchez Manduley (1920–1980) is famous for her role in the Cuban revolution. Clad in her military fatigues, this'first female guerrilla of the Sierra Maestra'is seen in many photographs alongside Fidel Castro. Sanchez joined the movement in her early thirties, initially as an arms runner and later as a combatant. She was one of Castro's closest confidants, perhaps lover, and went on to serve as a high-ranking government official and international ambassador. Since her death, Sanchez has been revered as a national icon, cultivated and guarded by the Cuban government. With almost unprecedented access to Sanchez's papers, including a personal diary, and firsthand interviews with family members, Tiffany A. Sippial presents the first critical study of a notoriously private and self-abnegating woman who yet exists as an enduring symbol of revolutionary ideals.Sippial reveals the scope and depth of Sanchez's power and influence within the Cuban revolution, as well as her struggles with violence, her political development, and the sacrifices required by her status as a leader and'New Woman.'Using the tools of feminist biography, cultural history, and the politics of memory, Sippial reveals how Sanchez strategically crafted her own legacy within a history still dominated by bearded men in fatigues.

In 1959, Fidel Castro took control of the Cuban government and became its new leader. Fidel Castro: Cuban Revolutionary Leader explores the early life of Castro and his rise to power. Easy-to-read text, vivid images, and helpful back matter give readers a clear look at this subject. Features include a table of contents, infographics, a glossary, additional resources, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Core Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

El ejemplar siguiente le dará motivos al lector para amar a Cuba y a sus héroes. En él se cuenta un pasaje de la vida de José Martí: después de fracasado el Plan de la Fernandina, este decide y llega a su país para incorporarse al Ejército Libertador y a su lucha independentista. Su contenido fue enriquecido con la palabra del Apóstol, particularidad que es, sin duda, muy valiosa. Lo invitamos a acercarse al accionar y al pensamiento de un hombre excepcional, no se arrepentirá de hacerlo.

La palabra “resiliencia” significa la capacidad del ser humano de resistir ante las condiciones adversas que lo rodean y desarrollar respuestas adaptativas y creativas, a pesar del dolor físico y los conflictos intrapsíquicos. Es la capacidad extraordinaria para vivir en la adversidad y no solo resistir, sino ser capaz de ser creativo en tales circunstancias. José Martí, el Héroe Nacional de Cuba, que convirtió la pluma en machete y el papel en manigua, ha sido uno de los hombres más resilientes de nuestra historia, que supo sobreponerse a todas las adversidades y llegar a morir por la libertad de su tierra. La autora logra estremecernos con la lectura de este hermoso libro, que constituye también un sincero, profundo y valioso homenaje a quien con solo 42 años, nos enseñó que morir por la patria es vivir.

A nationalist campaigner, civil rights advocate, diplomat, lecturer and orator, journalist, poet, author of children's stories, visionary champion of anti-colonial Latin American and Caribbean thought, all are expressions of José Martí's (1853–95) extraordinary life in fighting for Cuba's definitive independence. This work opens a new path in studies of Martí's efforts to build a modern democratic Cuba by widening the lens under which the Cuban hero has been examined. In joining these different facets of Martí and by going beyond the national and hemispheric, García de la Torre introduces the largely ignored global influences and dimensions that marked the revolutionary's work and ideas. From Martí's global histories for children to his adaptation of Hindu and Eastern conceptions, through a juxtaposition of The Bhagavad-Gita, to his relationships and inspirations from the African diaspora to the US Civil War and Ulysses S. Grant, García de la Torre vividly reveals the global origins of Martí's ideas regarding governance, citizenship, independence and spirituality. In bridging the familiar and the individual with larger global patterns and processes of the late nineteenth century, José Martí and the Global Origins of Cuban Independence gives birth to a modern Cuba understood from a truly global perspective.

Con la Biografía de un cimarrón, Miguel Barnet nos ofrece un caso único en nuestra literatura: el de un monólogo que escapa a todo mecanismo de creación literaria y, sin embargo, se inscribe en la literatura en virtud de sus proyecciones poéticas – Alejo Carpentier. Biografía de un cimarrón es el testimonio más importante publicado sobre las postrimerías de la esclavitud y la vida en los campos de''Cuba libre''– Juan Pérez De La Riva. La diversidad de recepciones de la obra de Miguel Barnet constituye una prueba más de que la literatura es también una manera de leer. Gran parte de la originalidad de la modalidad narrativa cultivada por Miguel Barnet reside en su vertiente testimonial y en las circunstancias de su escritura - Abdeslam Azougarh. No ha habido un libro como este antes y es improbable que vuelva a existir otro como él - Graham Greene.

All Cubans agree on one thing: José Martí is the'Father of Cuba.'He was and remains Cubas national hero. Cubans from all walks life simply call him'The Apostle.'Poet, political philosopher, statesman, novelist, journalist, translator, and firebrand revolutionary, Martí was the driving force behind the final Cuban insurrection against Spanish rule in the late nineteenth century.This young adult biography begins with Martí's origins in the mid-nineteenth century Cuba, which was then among the last of Spain's New World possessions. Next, the narrative traces his one-track mission into adulthood as a firebrand, intellectual radical who dies a martyr's death while fighting in Cuba.Martí's remarkable talents emerged in his boyhood. A revulsion against slavery in Cuba and Spains oppressive rule evoked powerful moral response in him. Havana's revolutionary circles drew him in and turned him into a radical in his early teens. Unjustly convicted, imprisoned, and exiled for treason against Spain at 17, he dedicated his life to the ousting Spanish from in Cuba. As an adult, he lived as an expatriate in four nations, honing his skills as journalist, poet, political thinker, and organizer of revolution. More than any other Cuban he motivated the Cuban émigré population, especially in Florida, to take up arms against Spain. He conducted much of the war planning, fund raising, and troop-recruiting in Florida, including cities such as Key West, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Ocala.The book relates Martí's personal story—both his strengths and weaknesses—culminating in a depiction of how at 42 he was killed in action and became a martyr. His legacy remains powerful. Today, both Castro's regime and his opponents in exile claim Martí as their own. For the past 120 years, his standard for leadership has endured. No other Cuban reaches his stature. No one probably ever will.

Taking part in the Cuban Revolution's first armed action in 1953, enduring the torture and killings of her brother and fiancé, assuming a leadership role in the underground movement, and smuggling weapons into Cuba, Haydée Santamaría was the only woman to participate in every phase of the Revolution. Virtually unknown outside of Cuba, Santamaría was a trusted member of Fidel Castro's inner circle and friend of Che Guevara. Following the Revolution's victory Santamaría founded and ran the cultural and arts institution Casa de las Americas, which attracted cutting-edge artists, exposed Cubans to some of the world's greatest creative minds, and protected queer, black, and feminist artists from state repression. Santamaría's suicide in 1980 caused confusion and discomfort throughout Cuba; despite her commitment to the Revolution, communist orthodoxy's disapproval of suicide prevented the Cuban leadership from mourning and celebrating her in the Plaza of the Revolution. In this impressionistic portrait of her friend Haydée Santamaría, Margaret Randall shows how one woman can help change the course of history.

Most conventional readings of the Cuban Revolution have seemed mesmerised by the personality and role of Fidel Castro, often missing a deeper political understanding of the Revolution's underlying structures, bases of popular loyalty and ethos of participation.In this ground-breaking work, Antoni Kapcia focuses instead on a wider cast of characters. Along with the more obvious, albeit often misunderstood, contributions from Che Guevara and Raúl Castro, Kapcia looks at the many others who, over the decades, have been involved in decision-making and have often made a significant difference. He interprets their various roles within a wider process of nation-building, demonstrating that Cuba has undergone an unusual, if not unique, process of change.Essential reading for anyone interested in Cuba's history and its future.

José Martí (1853–1895) was the founding hero of Cuban independence. In all of modern Latin American history, arguably only the “Great Liberator” Simón Bolívar rivals Martí in stature and legacy. Beyond his accomplishments as a revolutionary and political thinker, Martí was a giant of Latin American letters, whose poetry, essays, and journalism still rank among the most important works of the region. Today he is revered by both the Castro regime and the Cuban exile community, whose shared veneration of the “apostle” of freedom has led to his virtual apotheosis as a national saint. In José Martí: A Revolutionary Life, Alfred J. López presents the definitive biography of the Cuban patriot and martyr. Writing from a nonpartisan perspective and drawing on years of research using original Cuban and U.S. sources, including materials never before used in a Martí biography, López strips away generations of mythmaking and portrays Martí as Cuba's greatest founding father and one of Latin America's literary and political giants, without suppressing his public missteps and personal flaws. In a lively account that engrosses like a novel, López traces the full arc of Martí's eventful life, from his childhood and adolescence in Cuba, to his first exile and subsequent life in Spain, Mexico City, and Guatemala, through his mature revolutionary period in New York City and much-mythologized death in Cuba on the battlefield at Dos Ríos. The first major biography of Martí in over half a century and the first ever in English, José Martí is the most substantial examination of Martí's life and work ever published.

Celia Sánchez is the missing actor of the Cuban Revolution. Although not as well known in the English-speaking world as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Sánchez played a pivotal role in launching the revolution and administering the revolutionary state. She joined the clandestine 26th of July Movement and went on to choose the landing site of the Granma and fight with the rebels in the Sierra Maestra. She collected the documents that would form the official archives of the revolution, and, after its victory, launched numerous projects that enriched the lives of many Cubans, from parks to literacy programs to helping develop the Cohiba cigar brand. All the while, she maintained a close relationship with Fidel Castro that lasted until her death in 1980.The product of ten years of original research, this biography draws on interviews with Sánchez's friends, family, and comrades in the rebel army, along with countless letters and documents. Biographer Nancy Stout was initially barred from the official archives, but, in a remarkable twist, was granted access by Fidel Castro himself, impressed as he was with Stout's project and aware that Sánchez deserved a worthy biography. This is the extraordinary story of an extraordinary woman who exemplified the very best values of the Cuban Revolution: selfless dedication to the people, courage in the face of grave danger, and the desire to transform society.

In a new, expanded edition of a bestselling Ocean classic, Castro vividly portrays Che, the man, the revolutionary and the thinker, describing in detail his last days with Che in Cuba, giving a remarkably frank assessment of the Bolivian mission.

Useful for those interested in Che Guevara and the legacy he left behind, this book includes material which reveals how Ches death and example led to the revolutions of 1968, particularly in France, the UK and the USA. It also includes Fidel Castros speech on Ches death, along with Inti Peredos insistence that the struggle would continue.

Fidel Castro was powerless, in prison, when the Cuban Revolution was launched - by a tiny woman named Celia Sánchez. A fearless and brilliant organizer and recruiter, she created, nurtured, and led the insurgency that ousted the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, the Mafia, the Communist Party of Cuba, and the U.S. capitalists from Cuba in 1959. Castro's first two thrusts against Batista were dismal failures - the attack on the powerful Moncada Army Barracks on July 26, 1953, when everyone in his terribly outmanned and outgunned little force was either killed or captured and imprisoned; and, after two years of imprisonment, his return from Mexico on a leaky yacht in December of 1956, when 70 of his 81 rebels were quickly ambushed and killed by a Batista army as they scrambled ashore at Playa Colorado. The twelve survivors - including the Castro brothers Fidel and Raúl, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Juan Almeida - were saved by and joined up with Celia's already viable guerrilla movement in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra Mountains of eastern Cuba. Only then did they begin to make a dent in the supposedly impregnable Batista arsenal. From their first meeting in the Sierras till victory was theirs in the first week of January, 1959, Castro never forgot whose revolution it was - Celia's. And from January of 1959 till she died of cancer in January of 1980, he never forgot whose Cuba it was - Celia's. And it still is, as Castro has ruled the beleaguered island even since 1980 only in the manner he perceives Celia would want him to rule it. Rich Haney has studied the Cuban Revolution for over twenty years, particularly how it relates to America. This all-consuming interest in Cuba began innocently enough. Throughout the 1970s, he was Sports Anchor/Director of WTVR-TV, the CBS affiliate in Richmond, Virginia. After airing an interview with the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, he received a telephone call from an elderly black woman named Nora Peters. As a retired free-lance journalist, she knew Joe and he fondly remembered her. Over the next twelve years, until she died at the age of 82, Haney and Peters established a warm friendship. Ms. Peters first met Celia Sánchez in 1953 in Batista's Cuba. The letters Ms. Peters received from Celia between 1959 and 1979 describe Celia's life during and after the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Batista regime, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the continuing harassment from Florida-based Cuban émigré groups. Haney writes from the basis of this remarkable collection of letters, plus personal correspondence with Cuban journalist Marta Rojas and information gathered from Cuban archives and museums and the US National Archives. He went to Cuba in March 2004, on a legal license from the U.S. Treasury, to attempt to confirm the mystical hold Celia exercises over Fidel Castro to this day. That confirmation was realized. Celia Sánchez was and is the heart and soul of the Cuban Revolution, and it will be her Cuba as long as Fidel Castro is in place. Castro turned 79 on August 13, 2005, in his 46th year as Cuba's leader. The transition to post-Castro Cuba looms vividly on the horizon, whether it comes as a result of natural causes or with an'assist'by the Batistiano-influenced U.S. government. This highly personal account gives insights into the U.S.-Cuban relationship and the motivations of Cuba's leaders at a historical juncture. (Rich Haney has also authored Sacajawea: Her True Story, and a Civil War novel, Chattahoochee.).

Title from PDF cover (viewed Feb. 2, 2007).

Title from PDF cover (viewed on Jan. 31, 2007).

This penetrating study of political leadership and state formation centers on the Cuban leader Jose Marti (1853-1895) and his relationship with Key West, Florida, the major Cuban emigre colony of the time. The first book to explore specifically Marti's leadership qualities and style of leadership, it will be of significant interest to political scientists and students interested in the ways in which potential leaders react to the circumstances encountered and challenges faced in their quest for leadership. Ronning explains how Marti actively sought leadership of the Cuban struggle for independence, effectively applying his personal qualities to meet the needs and desires of his community of emigres in Key West. But, Ronning shows, Marti never lost sight of what he perceived as higher humanitarian and humanistic goals for a truly just republic, believing that the process of state formation must coincide with the struggle for independence itself.Ronning begins with both a synopsis of major events in Marti's life before his first visit to Key West and an analysis of the social needs of the Cuban emigre community in Key West at that time. The bulk of the study concentrates on the period of three years when Marti made several historic visits to Key West and is based upon in-depth examination of the voluminous correspondence between Marti and dozens of Key West residents in all social categories as well as Marti's own newspaper Patria, which provided another avenue of communication with the emigre community. Analyzing these sources in light of specific events and challenges in Marti's short career as a leader, Ronning shows how Marti used the island of Key West and its emigre community as a psychic focus for the liberation of Cuba itself. The final chapter offers a synthesis of Marti's various techniques, skills, and qualities as well as Key West's response to his efforts.